Juliana Francis
A 29-year-old woman, Sekinat
Ayomide Owolabi, has been jailed for trafficking a 19-year-old girl to Mali for
prostitution.
Owolabi was arraigned
by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP)
at the Federal High Court Osogbo, on a three-count charge of organising the
foreign travel of a 19-year-old girl to Mali for exploitative prostitution.
This contravenes
sections15 (a), 16 and 19 (b) of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Law
Enforcement and Administration Act, 2003 (as amended in 2005).
The victim, who was
rescued by the Nigeria Immigration Services and handed over to NAPTIP, aided
the Agency in the subsequent arrest of the suspect.
The presiding Judge,
Honourable Justice Maureen Adaobi Onyetenu, found the defendant guilty of the
three-count charge and sentenced her to three years imprisonment on the first count,
four years on the second count, and two years on the third count.
The sentences are
however, to run concurrently for four years without an option of fine.
The Director-General of
NAPTIP, Dame Julie Okah-Donli, while reacting to the news of the conviction,
lauded the collaborative efforts of the officers of the Nigeria Immigration
Service in rescuing the victim and handing her over to NAPTIP, which led to the
arrest and prosecution of the suspect.
According to her, “this
kind of collaboration among law enforcement agencies is what is needed in
combating human trafficking in Nigeria. Our prosecutors will do their utmost
best to successfully prosecute the human traffickers and cases handed over to
us.”
It would be recalled
that the DG of NAPTIP had, a few weeks ago, raised an alarm about the high
number of Nigerian girls trafficked to Mali, who are under sexually
exploitative conditions.
She also called on all
concerned arms of government and the International community to help in working
out modalities towards the successful rescue and effective rehabilitation of
these Nigerian girls.
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